World Cup Penalty Box Music Video

A few of my talented Voice of America colleagues are featured in this music video celebrating football’s World Cup and a new discussion series, Penalty Box, that is kicking off ahead of next month’s soccer extravaganza in Brazil.

Heather Maxwell, the host of our Music Time in Africa radio program, the VOA’s longest running English language show, is on lead vocals.

Heather is preparing for a trip to Rwanda and Cameroon. While Rwanda’s national football team, nicknamed Amavubi (The Wasps), has never qualified for the World Cup, let’s give a Sonny Side of Sports SHOUT OUT for The Indomitable Lions of Cameroon, who will be making their African record seventh World Cup appearance in Brazil.

Amish Srivastava

Longtime VOA Engineer Greg Burns is on drums in the video, while VOA colleagues Amish Srivastava and Peter Clottey are on percussion.

Amish is the creator of Penalty Box, while Peter will be hosting the lively and entertaining World Cup video series.

Another VOA Engineer, Curtis Bynum, provides

Curtis Bynum “working the boards” in one of the VOA studios.

back-up vocals in the video. Curtis loves to work the mic, as well as the controls in our studio, with glitzy aplomb.

Rick Barnes, a Telecommunication Manager who supervises Curtis, Greg and other VOA Engineers, plays bass in the video.

You might also recognize a few other friendly faces, including Yours Truly admiring the dribbling skills of Vincent Makori, our Africa 54 host, at the 38-second mark.

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Sonny Side of Sports is an energetic and action-packed look at both world and African sports, broadcast on radio, TV and the Internet. Since the show’s creation in 1999, host Sonny Young has delighted listeners and viewers with a lively presentation that combines humor, props, sound effects and correspondent reports from Africa and all over the globe.

The Sonny Side of Sports is broadcast Monday through Friday at 1630 and 1830 UTC/GMT. And on Fridays at 1730 UTC/GMT, Sonny has an expanded 30-minute sports show.